18 January 2024 , 18:00
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Natalie Cassidy dramatically lost four stone in the public eye when she promoted her weight-loss DVD - but instantly regretted it straight after.
The actress, who is best known for portraying Sonia Fowler in BBC's EastEnders, has struggled with her relationship with food and exercise over the years, and has spoken openly about her weight loss and gain.
The 40-year-old soap star released two weight-loss DVDs back in the day - Natalie Cassidy's Then and Now in 2007 and The Perfect Ten - but later branded them a 'mistake'.
Natalie admitted she regrets signing up to the £100,000 DVD deal, despite the bumper pay cheque. Natalie revealed she was offered a huge amount of cash to shed the weight in a short period, but put all the weight back on after penning the deal.
Natalie regretted accepting the huge pay cheque to dramatically lose the weight (Publicity Picture)
The star has now developed a healthy relationship with food and exercise (Getty Images)Speaking on the Comfort Eating with Grace Dent podcast in August 2022, the actress said: "I was very overweight and they approached me and said 'Listen, we're going to give you £100,000, we're going to get you really fit and you're going to lose four stone'.
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"I was like happy days, let's go for it. I just thought, that's a lot of money; but it wasn't the right thing to do. It wasn't - you are losing a lot of weight in a three or four-month period, twelve or sixteen weeks, low calories and training every day.
"I got there, and as soon as that DVD came out, I ate for England. I put all the weight back on in eight weeks." She went on to joke that she could look like a supermodel like Kate Moss if it wasn't for her love of mayonnaise.
She also opened up about being fat-shamed while taking part in 2009's edition of Strictly Come Dancing. Talking about how she felt "ridiculed" while on the show, she explained she was "about four stone bigger than I am now". Speaking on the Ry-union podcast with Rylan earlier that year, she said: "Vincenzo (Simone) was quite little," she said.
"And I remember one week, it was like, 'Oh we're going to do this dance, but you're going to pick up Vincent'. And I think about it now and I think, 'Oh, that was out of order. It was a bit out of order to me.' You couldn't do that now."
She was fat-shamed during her time on Strictly in 2009 and struggled with it (James Curley/REX/Shutterstock)
She learnt to be comfortable in her own body while training for the marathon (Getty Images)In 2019, Natalie said she finally felt comfortable in her own skin after losing three stone while training hard for the London Marathon. Speaking on podcast RunPod, she said: "I have learnt how to eat and how to be comfortable with who I am... You get wiser as you get older and I just feel much more confident and comfortable."
At the time, a source close to the star revealed Natalie's weight-loss secret. "Nat is following a well-balanced, low-GI diet and has sworn off takeouts," they told Now magazine. "She loves to run and says fitness has helped, not just with her body but also her mental health."
Finally feeling comfortable in her body is a huge milestone for the actress, who previously said that her desire to lose weight was once so extreme that she was bordering on having an eating disorder. She told Heat magazine back in 2009: "I really wasn't well. I was bordering on having an eating disorder. There were nights I would go out for dinner and then I'd go home and take laxatives because I didn't want the food inside me."